Day 249

Ellie is 35 weeks and four days old today.  The passing of the days has mysteriously accelerated.  I have never had this feeling so acutely -- when I pause for a moment I realize much time has elapsed since the last pause.  We are watching a dystopian television show in which the protagonist is separated from her child -- flashback scenes with both the mother and child squeeze my heart.
  Love for a child is very potent stuff.  Ellie and I have our very own, distinct relationship now.  And she is confirming our early suspicions that she is made of energy, is eager to laugh and share a look that shows she is in on the joke, she is strong and curious and affectionate and independent.  I am so proud already to be her mother.  I have included a few photos below of the party couple of weeks!

Ellie has been showing signs of teething -- lots of drool and a increased penchant to put everything in her mouth -- but so far, she just had the two teeth in the bottom center of her mouth.

Ellie and Zoe have their own burgeoning relationship -- Zoe has been very patient and gentle and Ellie would gleefully tug on Zoe's nose if we let her!  

When a labradoodle isn't available, Ellie is fascinated by pulling on the tails of the animals in this book.

Pictured here is Ellie's second swimming lesson.  She is thrilled to be in the water each week, and she expresses this by splashing other students and shreiking over the instructions, of course.

We are getting plenty of mileage out of a few toys we bought that make (terrible) noises...

Ellie is an accomplished practical joker -- she could swipe daddy's glasses in her sleep!

More evidence of the Zoe/Ellie bond -- Zoe yelped sadly whenever Ellie backed away!

Eight months!  This is the first month that I've been solely responsible for the month picture.  I took it may be obvious :)

The biggest highlight of the past two weeks was a visit from Grandpa and Grandma! I should have taken many more pictures but I'm so glad that Nitin snapped this one on their last morning here. They watched Ellie for two days, sang pattycake and delighted Ellie with ending facial expressions and voices.  

Ellie can't walk independently yet -- I cannot believe that is coming soon -- but she likes to walk a few steps with support.

We visited Frying Pan Park, home to many farm animals, today -- Ellie kept a watchful eye on the animals the whole time!

Ellie pulled herself up for the first time today -- it will not be long until she is cruising, walking and then somehow graduating from high school.  Childhood feels so lengthy to a child -- I remember that the way to Christmas seemed interminable.  But I am almost certain that childhood feels like a blink to parents.  All we can do is give the most and the best of ourselves to those we love and live in the present moment -- we can only live one moment at a time anyways.

Day 237

Ellie is 33 weeks and six days old today.  She is soon to be six months old! How long will I count her life in days and weeks? I couldn't say.  She still strikes me as a miracle. I am awed that we made from scratch a person who can crawl across a room to pull a dog's tail, who has her own freewheeling agenda and recognizes her favorite songs.  She is utterly unphased by Zoe, who attempts to barrel into Ellie as if she were another puppy.  She loves to devote her attention to determining how things work -- wheels, faucets, pieces of yarn sticking out too far from a carpet.  She is a busy, biggest little girl.  Her Nani predicted, a bit worried, that Ellie would be a strong, assertive woman -- the implication being that she could be the sort of lady who intimidates people a bit. How I hope she is right! But we'll celebrate Ellie no matter who she is, and I truly believe she is someone wonderful -- affectionate, laughing easily, that sweet smile, boundless energy and a tenacious spirit.  Here are a few photos of the past couple of weeks...

Nitin took this picture of Ellie looking up at me while I was reading to her.  Her attention span has really increased -- so long as Zoe is not near!

It may be my imagination, but it seems like Ellie is really beginning to grasp the concept of puzzles...

It was indeed Ellie's first Fourth! She was asleep long before the fireworks and we had a pretty low-key day, but I'm looking forward to BBQs and parades in the future with her.

Ellie made a cameo during our recent GW girls weekend.

Ellie loves playing with her toys!  It is exciting to watch her take notice of and explore new playthings.

Ellie's first swim lesson! She had a blast. I was pretty nervous that she would swallow water, but she handled the whole thing with aplomb. What a pro!

I think Ellie thought this puppet was very much alive, but it didn't bother her in the slightest when he took a big bite out of her cheek!

This past weekend, Ellie attended her first concert, an open air concert at the church on the corner given by a band of neighborhood dads. They were pretty good and Ellie was a good sport even though it was close to her bedtime!

Ellie loved this noisy Thomas book and I've made a note to buy more books with buttons and sounds.  Later, I practiced counting with Ellie's number puzzle and Ellie practiced eating the pictures...

Our lives are full and it seems that life with Ellie is going by in a blur.  We're so grateful for our time with her, and excited to get away as a family soon.

Day 221

Ellie is 31 weeks and four days old.  She is crawling with her belly off the ground now -- still not too masterfully, but she is able to reach her destination when it matters to her!  She will be pulling herself up to a stand very soon.  I cannot believe how quickly the first seven months of her life have flown by.  She has been very chatty recently, repeating syllables like ba and da and sometimes even ma.  She seems to be understanding some of what we say -- Nitin told Ellie he would be right back when he left her nursery today briefly, and Ellie waited with uncharacteristic patience for him to return! She also seems more attached to Nitin and I lately, and loves to be carried -- but she is quite the squirmy wiggleworm!

I am able to get a deeper sense of her personality.  She is very active, but also has the attention span to focus intently on a toy for ten minutes at a time.   For months, she has been noticeably more vocal than other babies, and that trend continues -- she really seems to have many of her own emphatically expressed opinions.  She wears her feelings on her face, flashing big smiles when she is happy, and a big pouty lip when she is sad.  She is still very much a baby, but I see flashes of the kid that she will be, and I feel nostalgic already for my tiny baby girl.  It is so exciting to think of knowing the child she is becoming, but at the same difficult to let go of the newborn I breastfed, the sleepy, snuggly baby who was not yet on the move, etc!

Here are a few pictures of our girl from the past couple of weeks --

We think that Ellie may be teething again! This nylon bag that we fill with fresh fruit for her to suck and chew on seems to help.

We may have gone on a bit of a toy buying spree! Here, Ellie answers her toy phone, but has not quite learned to hold it to her ear yet!

Seven month old baby!

We took Ellie to the farmer's market in Falls Church last Saturday -- she loves to nap in her stroller.

Later that day, we had a picnic with my office friends, and Ellie played with several babies in our office born in the same two month period!  We had dinner with Kim and Judd and boys that night also, but I forgot to take pictures of her boys trying on Ellie's butterfly wings.

Could look at this sweet smile all day.

Ellie has no concerns about trying to steal Zoe's prized tennis ball.  Fortunately, Zoe is a very good sport.

Ellie's kinship with Mr Moose continues...

We are all smiles during bathtime lately.  I hope that the swimming pool will be a hit, too!

More fun with new toys, and showing off impressive baby core muscle strength!

I love this look -- it is more often on her face after she finishes the milk!

We tried peaches for the first time during our trip to Linda's cabin in WV this weekend.  Local Virginia peaches for our little Virginia peach! She was instantly smitten.

We hiked on Saturday night and Sunday morning, and Ellie ride the Daddy express!

I literally only held her for these photos because this baby is getting heavy and hiking is tiring!

A little snippet from the crawling videos. It's a process, people.

Who was most pleased about Ellie's bath today, after skipping last night's bath and taking two sweaty hikes and a handful of sweaty car rides? Probably me, but Ellie seemed grateful to be clean again, too!

The night we spent in WV dicey as far as Ellie sleep -- all four of us were awake and in the same bed between four and five and we couldn't get Ellie back to sleep until midnight after an earlier evening wakeup.  Ellie protested our efforts to restore order at bedtime tonight, going as far as to gnaw her way out of her crib with her single tooth.  But we persisted.  May she sleep all night and wake up smiling!